INESC TEC’s Chairman João Claro elected to the Board of the TTO Circle

João Claro, Chairman and CEO of INESC TEC, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the TTO Circle; a European Commission–promoted network that brings together Technology Transfer Offices from leading Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) across Europe. INESC TEC remains the only Portuguese institution represented in this initiative.

The TTO Circle serves as a strategic platform for cooperation, reflection and coordination on technology transfer, knowledge valorisation, spin-off creation and the broader interface between research and industrial innovation. João Claro will serve a three-year mandate, following his appointment by the network’s Management Board, which includes the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and several European RTOs.

In this new role, he has outlined a set of priorities aimed at strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity: supporting more effective pathways for spin-offs to scale-up, advancing practical guidance for impact-oriented research, addressing emerging digital and data-driven innovation models, and exploring new forms of cooperation between research organisations.

Alongside his leadership at INESC TEC, João Claro is also a faculty member at FEUP and Director of the PhD Programme in Engineering and Public Policy, with extensive experience in technology management, entrepreneurship and international knowledge-transfer collaborations.

INESC TEC has been a member of the TTO Circle since 2019 and has contributed to several strategic discussions and reports on the role of RTOs in European competitiveness and industrial innovation.

As João Claro noted, joining the Board represents “a privilege and an opportunity to contribute to the TTO Circle’s mission as a European platform dedicated to technology transfer and innovation impact.”